#please miyazaki

[vigarioamelia]

do you guys think godwyn is there in the shadow of the erdtree chilling with his bros (bonding over family trauma) or are we never actually going to see that sexy- i mean, are we really never going to see mr. godwyn the golden?

[myhyperfixationisiforgot]

Look it is very important to me that everyone knows that Sophie is also fucking nuts in the book. Everybody always talks about how absurd Howl in the book but Sophie is right there with him.

She's so determined to be the normal sister that she's just actually convinced herself that the magic she is clearly, visibly, blatantly performing happens to everyone. Just. You know. Not anyone around her. The curse wore off weeks ago and she's just totally sure she's happier as an old woman. Her sisters have initiated some complex long-game tomfoolery to switch lives and Sophie also thinks that this is the most logical choice.

Sophie does not move in with a romantic mythic man who treats her right, she moves in with a runaway doctoral candidate who immediately dates her sister and drags her into his family drama. She and Howl are both so afraid of romantic commitment they accidentally trick themselves into becoming life partners. They kill the witch of the waste mostly on a whim, and they argue about which one of them is more impulsive for doing so the whole time.

[swantranslations]

Miyazaki's Retirement Declarations (chronologically)

Translated from last week's NHK documentary on the production of The Boy and The Heron (more under cut). I saw people posting a screencap of this and I just couldn't contain myself. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON WAY LONGER THAN I IMAGINED LMFAO

This is from the NHK programme "Professional - Their Working Philosophy" (プロフェッショナル 仕事の流儀) a few days ago (16/12/2023). The episode investigates the production process of The Boy and the Huron, and how the late Takahata Isao influenced the movie.

(It was confirmed within the documentary that Mahito = Miyazaki, Great Uncle = Takahata Isao, The Heron = Suzuki Toshio, Kiriko = Yasuda Michiyo)

The documentary is currently available on the NHK Streaming Service (Location Limited). If you have your own ways of watching and you know Japanese, I would definitely recommend the episode as it gives a lot of much-needed context to The Boy and The Heron. Personally, I haven't found a way to watch it yet, so all I know about the documentary are hearsay I saw on Japanese twitter.

Original screencap:

Also, at the very end of the episode, Miyazaki was shown working on a Naucicaa piece without any explanation, which led to many people speculating whether he could be working on a sequel for Naucicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

What do yall think? Do you think he's going to finally retire or release yet another animated film in a few years? I would love to see Naucicaa 2 but I also feel like he really needs to... yknow, chillax a bit and stuff. He deserves a long ass vacation.

[swampjawn]

God I love animation. I love it for the way it can bring anything to life beyond the constraints of boring ol' reality, but also the ways that it's inextricably linked to, and draws on the conventions of live-action film-making.

So fuck it, let's look at how Hayao Miyazaki straight up copies some camera framing techniques from his predecessor and the other most influential Japanese filmmaker of all time, Akira Kurosawa! (Kurosawa really was the master of framing scenes around his characters, so he's a great source of inspiration)

(btw, this is a screenshot from this TV special where the two met for the first time just after the release of Kurosawa's final film. It's pretty interesting, and also very cute how nervous Miyazaki seems to be to meet one of his idols.)

Specifically, how the two each choose to break the 180 degree rule (well, not technically 'break' in the case of Kurosawa) to show their protagonists' changing destiny in "Throne of Blood" and "Princess Mononoke".

For anyone who doesn't know, the 180 degree rule is a basic film-making rule of thumb which states that in any scene where two characters interact, you should draw an imaginary line between them and the camera should always stay on one side of that line.

("In the Mood for Love" - Wong Kar-wai)

This way, one character is always looking to the right of the camera, the other is always looking to the left, and the audience doesn't get confused by the geography of the scene. Crossing this line can be disorienting, but when done intentionally, it can convey a paradigm shift of some kind in the scene.

In this scene from "Throne of Blood," (a feudal Japanese retelling of Macbeth) Washizu's wife Asaji discusses tactics with him and tries to convince him to aspire to the throne and to assassinate his lord Tsuzuki while he sleeps.

As two servants appear to notify them that Washizu's sleeping quarters are prepared, the camera dollies left and around the characters' backs. This camera movement is motivated by the motion of the servants' torches outside the room, but it also signifies a change in Washizu's outlook.

Washizu is completely silent for most of this scene, contemplating his wife's advice. But as the camera slides behind his back and across the line of action, the scene is now re-framed, illustrating his change in perspective.

He's been convinced and the trajectory of his life is about to change - and now, facing away from the camera, is the time for action.

Because the camera slides smoothly across the line, Kurosawa isn't technically breaking the 180 degree rule. Miyazaki on the other hand, takes it a little further.

The complimentary scene in Princess Mononoke comes near the start when the wise woman of the village reads Prince Ashitaka's fortune after he's cursed by the wild boar spirit. She tells him that it is his fate to leave the village and travel to the west, where he may be able to lift the curse on his arm. The trajectory of Ashitaka's life changes in this moment too. As he accepts his fate, the change is symbolized by him cutting off his hair, but also by the camera jumping the line.

Throughout this dialogue scene and even as he cuts his hair, the simulated camera sits just slightly to the side of Ashitaka's left shoulder.

But once it's done, for the final shot, the scene is reframed and we jump to the other side, where Ashitaka is now looking to the right of the camera instead of the left.

Making the camera dolly across a scene like Kurosawa's version in 2D animation is no simple task, so this transition with a simple cut is in a way subtler, in another way a bit more jarring, but it conveys the same meaning.

This is the moment when our protagonists make the choice to embark on a new destiny and re-frame their lives.

This has been an excerpt from a short video essay I made a while back, which not many people watched. I think this is at least in part due to my failure to package it well, and it seems you tumblheads like this animation/cinematography analysis stuff, so this is an experiment to see if, with the help of y'all, and a new title and thumbnail, it's at all possible to give this video a second wind in the eyes of the Youtube Gods!

So if you found this interesting, I'd appreciate if you checked it out! Thanks for reading!

[xcal1bur25]

Mr. Miyazaki, in regards to your new, especially fucked up version of a poison swamp, I have a suggestion for what to name it. I think it would be very funny if you did this.

[nylongenesis]

Hm.

Jonathan Sims The Archivist has either read or attempted to read Howl’s Moving Castle, in this essay I will-

[allonsybadwolf]

I carved some Ghibli pumpkins for Halloween this year :) and my partner carved Jumpkin from Cassette Beasts and LOOK HOW CUTE IT IS

[wrenimations]

We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it

if it were not the earth where the same flowers come up again every spring that we used to gather with our tiny fingers

as we sat lisping to ourselves on the grass...

What novelty is worth that sweet monotony where everything is known

and loved because it is known?

Quote: George Eliot, "The Mill on the Floss"

Gifs:

My Neighbor Totoro / Ponyo / My Neighbor Totoro /Castle in the Sky / Kiki's Delivery Service / When Marnie was There / Spirited Away / Kiki's Delivery Service / My Neighbor Totoro / Arietty

[labyrynth]

(as many of you may or may not know) Studio Ghibli’s “Howl’s Moving Castle”, is based on the Diana Wynne Jones book by the same name, and there are actually a substantial number of differences between them!

i was curious how many people have experienced both or might like one more than the other, so i put together a poll to help us find out :)

to clarify, saying that you like one version more than the other does NOT mean that it’s better, or that the other one is worse or bad—i love both the book and the film! it’s just an expression of your own preference

[scrunchyy]

Before the eclipse hits my area I just wanna say I am genuinely praying for a souls game event to happen to me. I need to be cursed within a loop of never ending life and death. I need to travel a mysterious and foreign land and grow stronger with the help of a beautiful woman. I NEED to be rent in twain by a massive beast and watch the bottom half of my body land across from me while the light fades from my eyes only for me to gasp back into reality at the last shiny checkpoint. But most importantly I need to not work a nine to five anymore.

[james-stark-the-writer]

finally seated to watch Princess Mononoke after putting it off for like 3 weeks, really interesting opening, right now it feels like it'll be like a variation on Nausicaä's themes.

[boanerges20]

Osamu Miyazaki

[gyooza]

I choose to believe that the spectral steed whistle is actually an engagement ring and miquella has been playing the long con this whole time. you finally meet him and he greets you as his lord and when you're all confused he's like "you're wearing my ring???"

[fantomette22]

Ok I'm once again asking

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE damn it

I now the big one/down left on the 2nd pic is basically Annalise...But everyone else?! They could be anyone...

I love it it's beautiful but it made me goes insert conspiracy theory meme

[apothekaries]

miyazaki u sad bastard i love you i love you i love you

[tentacleteapot]

would honestly kill for a Ghibli-animated adaptation or continuation of any Soulsborne/Elden Ring installment, ever. Ghibli is already amazing at ruins and forests and weird spaces full of strange creatures, and what draws me to FromSoft projects has always been the history and the atmosphere of it all, far more so than the potential for epic fight scenes. something set in moody, gloomy castles and forests tinted a gloomy and oppressive dark green would be so satisfying to immerse myself in.